Lanterns on the sky
by Gloria Bennet
Summary: Memorial-4x02 We've all cried when the lanterns reached the sky... Because those dead people are never going to be dead for us. We can always find them in ourselves.


**Here I am, again!  
**

**This is all about Elena's inner feelings in the final scene of 4x02.  
**

**BTW what a meaningful scene it was! Somehow it reminded me of 1X02 (The night of the comet).  
**

**Please Reviewww! And enjoy your reading!  
**

* * *

**LANTERNS ON THE SKY  
**

Elena let the lantern fly to the sky, reaching her beloved ones.

She didn't know how she was feeling, all she knew was that thinking about all the people they had lost, made her cry First of all there were her parents. They died together and she was with them when it happened. Maybe she should have prevented that accident, but she hadn't done anything.

When the car fell off the Wickery Bridge, it was already too late for her mom. She remebered the hideous feeling of the water filling her lungs, making impossible for her to breathe. The pain that sent her shivers all along her spine. She still remembered how it felt. Above all she remembered her dad's face..he was looking at her the whole time, not losing eye contact. It was like he didn't want to leave her, but he couldn't avoid it. He was dying and he didn't want to. He felt relief looking at her daughter's eyes, he wanted to tell her how much she meant to him and to her mum, but he didn't have the chance to. He could only whisper to her with the voice he had left "I love you" and that was enough for Elena to have heavy tears in her eyes that blurred her vision. If her parents were dead, which was the reason to keep on living? She couldn't find it, so she simply answered back to her dad, telling him how much she loved him, hoping that moment would last forever and then everything was darkness...When she woke up, everything had changed.

Then it was Jenna's turn. Jenna had been her favourite aunt since she was a baby and when her parents had died, she became her mom. Her mother's role was irreplaceable, but somehow Jenna succeeded in taking it and was a shoulder to cry on when she was sad and no matter how things were difficult, she was always there for her and Jeremy. Maybe that's why she was killed.

Once again when Klaus put end to her life, Elena had to watch the scene. If possible, it had been even more shattering than her parents' death because it was all her fault. Jenna wasn't supposed to die, but she had to in order to complete Klaus' plan. She was killed by him in a horrible way and she had to watch her die, without making anything. That memory was so painful and she had tried, more than once, to erase it but it was clung on her heart.

Many people suffered when she died, and among them there was Alaric.

Alaric helped her survive without Jenna and became a fatherly figure for her and Jeremy. He was like a saviour and he helped her as nobody else when Stefan had disappeared.

He made her understand how important it was to struggle and be strong, even when your world is falling apart. He made her see the light of faith in a cruel meaningless reality.

He made her go on and get stronger. He didn't deserve to die, but he did. When she died, he died.

But before that, his death had already come when, little by little, he had changed, he had got evil because of his ring. Because he had cheat death more than an ordinary person was allowed. She remembered clearly when she gave her goodbye to him. It had been a desperate moment. She didn't want to let him go, but she couldn't do otherwise. She had hugged him tight and thanked him for all that he had done to her. For having been a family when her real one was dead.

Too many were the dead ones along the way. Too many to count, but not too many to remember.

There wasn't a single moment where she didn't think about them.

She couldn't forget them, she didn't want to, therefore she kept on remembering them. Even a little gesture or an insignifant thing made her think about them.

She couldn't forget neither John nor Isobel.

They were her blood parents and although they made wrong choices, a part of herself would have always loved them. Even if they made her suffer and lied to her. She didn't have any good memories with them, but it didn't matter. Isobel had died because she didn't think she was worthy enough for her, and no matter how selfish this action was, she made it because she loved her in a wrong way, but she still did. And what about John? John had died to save her and there was no need of other evidences to understand how much he loved her. He was always so protective of her and although he thought that the worst evil was represented by Stefan and Damon, he still tried to protect her.

She was thankful to him, to both of them and as any other person she loved, they had died.

That's why the lantern was also for them. They deserved to be remembered.

They had been brave and they loved her.

Now here she was, with her new family, her friends, Stefan.. and although it was grievous and heartbreaking to think about all they had lost, all she had lost, it felt right. It felt as the fairest thing to do now. Stefan was right. It was time to grieve their death.

It was time to remember them, not because they were dead, but because they had been part of their lives, her life. They helped her to keep on when everything was aching and wrong. They gave her a reason to believe. They gave her hope. They made her live unforgettable memories.

They did so much to all of them. They even gave their life to her.

The only thing she could do and they all could do was to make them live, through their memories.

Make them alive through the light of the lanterns.

They would have given them a breath of light, a breath of life.

Elena watched as the lanterns hit the sky.

They were there. They were all there, watching over her.

There was no reason to cry, there was reason to smile.

She held Stefan's hand.

"Thank you" Stefan held her hand more strongly.

"You're welcome".

They kept on looking at the sky.

All was going to be okay.

All was going to be fine for them.

They could still live and they would have not wasted a single day because they had to show how grateful they were to those stars shining on the sky.

To those lanterns that now were so phisically far from them, but so close to their heart.


End file.
